My dear friend Rony celebrated a milestone recently, and chose to spend his big day among family and friends back home in Manila. I suppose I could describe the evening as musical, but it was really more magical than that. Theater music filled the air, and the voices of theatre angels took centerstage right alongside the music-maker himself. Nothing was rehearsed, as there was really no need. Anyone who has ever sung with Rony on the piano will know what I mean.

Taking my turn on the microphone brought back a flood of memories. Glittery evenings in hotel ballrooms, open air stages, nerve-wracking auditions, hilarious lounge gigs, intricately arranged melodies, forgotten lyrics, made-up new ones, voices soaring, voices blending in not one, not two, not three--but 5-part harmonies! Without a doubt, those moments made up some of the best years of my life. And Rony figured prominently in most of them.

Opening the show with a song he wrote himself, entitled "How Do You Open A Show?", Rony graciously gave the floor to his singing guests before ending the evening with a simple, but very touching rendition of a Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty showstopper called "I Was Here", from the musical The Glorious Ones. Check out Patti Lupone's version!

Take in the lyrics and see why theater people--who, in my opinion, are the greatest, most fabulous people on earth--do what they do. Why I do what I do.